


you know, they'd make really good parents

by allforus



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Children, Cute, Cute Ending, Derek would be such a good dad, Domestic Bliss, Everyone loves Spencer Reid, Family Bonding, Fluff, Football | Soccer, Not gonna lie this is soft, Spencer and Henry are so sweet, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:35:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24149827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allforus/pseuds/allforus
Summary: soft one-shot about the team on a saturday off! derek and spencer bond with the kids and everyone wants them to be dads.
Relationships: Derek Morgan/Spencer Reid, Jennifer "JJ" Jareau/Emily Prentiss
Comments: 3
Kudos: 342





	you know, they'd make really good parents

**Author's Note:**

> this is short and unedited by i wrote it at 5am after watching the scene where henry dresses up as spencer for halloween. hope you enjoy! 
> 
> remember to take care of yourself!

They were running late. 

It’s not like he was surprised. Spencer, despite sometimes looking like he had just rolled out of bed, spends more time on his hair than any other person he’s ever met. They were supposed to be at the park in 15 minutes, and Saturday morning traffic was bound to make the drive longer than the usual 10.

“I’m going to leave without you!” Derek said, yelling up the stairs towards the bathroom where he heard the blow dryer still running. It turned off moments later, and the tall man came bounding down the stairs. 

“I’m ready, I’m ready. I don’t want to look deranged around a bunch of children!”

Derek rolled his eyes, grabbing his keys from the small table and opening the door, gesturing for the other man to exit.

Getting to the park didn’t take as long as he originally expected, maybe because he was speeding, but that's besides the point. They parked and were walking towards the families sitting on chairs and blankets. Everyone one else was already there. Dave sat in a brightly colored lawn chair, elbows on his knees looking at the beginning of the game. Emily, JJ, and Penelope were sprawled out on a blanket, chatting and pointing towards the field. Aaron was on the field, wearing a referee shirt and smiling. Jack, Aaron’s son, was holding a soccer ball, looking at his father intently. When they got closer, they saw JJ’s son Henry running around the group, picking dandelions that had sprouted from the grass.

“There you guys are, the games about to start!” Emily said, pointing in the general direction of the young boys circled between two goals.

Derek and Spencer spread their blanket next to the others and sat down. Henry came running over to the blanket and promptly sat on Spencer’s lap, showing him the bundle of yellow weeds he had picked.

“Those are beautiful Henry!” Spencer said, admiring the young boy's efforts. Henry showed the faux bouquet to the rest of the group, receiving immediate praise, Penelope took a picture of Henry holding them.

A whistle brought their attention to the field, where the game had just begun. Jack began running with the other boys, chasing the ball. As soon as he managed to get a hold of the ball, even if it was just for a few seconds, the team burst into cheers.  
Derek smiled at the young boy on the soccer field. He reminded him of himself at his age, caring about nothing but sports and winning games.

Before long, they called half-time. Both the young boy and his father walked towards the group, grinning from ear to ear.

“You killed it buddy!” Derek said, giving Jack a high five as he arrived at the blankets.

He grabbed his water bottle from underneath Rossi’s chair and plopped down next to Henry, beginning to talk about some comic he had just read.

“Quite the game so far,” Dave said, nodding towards Aaron. Their boss smiled.

Soon, the game continued, and by the end Jack had scored 3 goals, earning him several rounds of celebration from the group.

As they began packing up their things, Dave suggested an early lunch at his place. They all graciously accepted, never passing up any form of Rossi cuisine. 

“Can I drive with Uncle Spence?” Henry asked, pulling at his mother’s sleeve.

“I don’t see why not,” She said, looking at Derek and Spencer for confirmation, they smiled.

“Why don’t you come too, Jack? We can stop by the store and get some ice cream that we can have at Uncle Daves,” Derek says as he finishes folding the blue quilt the pair of them had sat on while watching the game. 

Jack, with permission from his dad, excitedly agreed. The four of them made their way to Derek’s car, Jack talking a mile a minute about the goals that he had made, and Henry riding on Spencer’s shoulders. The two boys got into the back of the pickup truck, beginning to talk about spiderman and someone else, Derek didn’t quite catch the name.

“Buckled up?” He said, turning back to make sure that the two kids in his backseat were secure, not wanting anything bad to happen.

“Yep! Now let's go! I want ice cream!” Jack said, making the two men in the front seats laugh. Derek pulled out of the parking lot, waving as they passed the rest of the team reaching their parked cars. It didn’t take them long to reach the local safeway, the parking lot packed with cars. They parked and entered the store, immediately going to the frozen isle, where the boys picked out treats. Jack wanted fudge bars, and Henry wanted to get popsicles. After a few minutes of bickering, they decided on a small box of each.

Spencer paid for the two items before they left the store, walking back towards the car.

“Thank you Uncle Derek and Uncle Spencer!” the boys said, running towards the parked red truck, trying to see who could get there faster. Derek and Spencer just laughed, knowing that the boys were genuinely thankful, but had too much energy to express it for too long. 

The drive to Dave’s took longer than expected, making Spencer anxious about the frozen desserts melting, but they made it in 20 minutes with the treats still intact.

The boys immediately ran from the car around to the backyard, insisting on playing some game that they made up on the drive. The two men entered the front door, met with the rest of the crew, who had already begun preparing lunch welcoming them in.

“The boys didn’t cause you too much trouble I hope?” Aaron asks, taking the plastic bag from Spencer and turning around to put the popsicles and ice cream in Dave’s freezer.

“They were perfect, as per usual. They're out back,” Spencer said, looking out of the glass french doors that led from the expansive kitchen to the excessive backyard.

Penelope and Dave were working on assembling sandwiches on fresh French bread, with an array of cheeses, deli meats, veggies, and condiments on platters. Emily was cutting up strawberries into small, bite-sized pieces while JJ was stirring powdered lemonade into a jug of water. Aaron was responding to something, probably a work email, on his phone.

It wasn’t a rare sight to see the seven of them working together in the kitchen. They were much closer than most teams in the Bureau, but they liked it that way. Weekends were spent with each other, trying to create memories that didn’t revolve around cases. Derek was lucky to have them, his own family being in Chicago, they were the people who would drop anything to help him. They spent holidays, birthdays, and even sad days together. They were there for each other, and that was all that Derek needed.

“Looks like everythings ready!” Penelope said, beginning to bring out the platters of food to the large table sitting on Dave’s patio. Everyone helped, and soon they were ready to dig in. The boys were running around, and despite Henry being several years younger than Jack, he was significantly faster. 

“Come on boys, lunch is ready!” JJ called, resulting in the boys sprinting over to the patio, always excited for lemonade and ham sandwiches. 

The food was delicious, it always was. Henry sat next to his mother and Emily, who were bickering about what movie they should go see tonight. Jack sat by his father and Dave, who were discussing some upcoming marathon Aaron was planning on participating in. Penelope, Derek, and Spencer ate in content silence, just happy to be surrounded by the people they love.

The food only lasted so long, and soon the boys were laying in the grass, tired from their earlier bursts of energy. The adults talked for a while, about mundane things, before Spencer sneaked off to the kitchen. He returned with the two boxes of fudge bars and popsicles. Derek got up and walked over to the boys laying in the bright spring sun. 

Before they knew it, the boys were being picked up and thrown over Derek’s shoulders. They were laughing as Derek, who hadn’t realized how heavy two young boys could be, struggled with them as he walked towards the table.

“Now, Jack what do we say?” Aaron said as they arrived at the table, Spencer was already opening the boxes.

“Thank you Uncle Derek and Uncle Spencer!” Jack said, wrapping his arms around Derek.

“T-anks Spence!” Henry said, wrapping his arms around the taller man. He finished opening the boxes and handed the boys their treats, picking up Henry and helping him open up the plastic.

The two men and boys went over to sit on the swing seat on the other side of the patio, Spencer making sure that Henry wasn’t spilling any of his orange popsicle on his clothing.

“You know,” Dave said, looking at his friends, “They’d make really good parents.”

“You’re telling me, sometimes I think Henry likes Spencer more than me!” JJ says, smiling at her best friend and son.

“Derek just needs to buck up and propose, Spencer’s been talking about having kids for years,” Penelope says, dramatically rolling her eyes. They all knew that Derek was planning on popping the question, but he seemed to be taking his sweet time with it.

The two men sat with the boys, smiling and laughing as they talked about seemingly nothing. They could hear the others talking about them, but they didn’t care enough to listen. They just smiled at each other and enjoyed the moment, wishing they could stay there forever.


End file.
